Maine Knights of Columbus: Awards for Community Activities

ANNUAL AWARDS FOR COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
MAINE STATE CONVENTION
ROCKPORT, MAINE APRIL 18-20, 2008

Knights of Columbus councils conduct activities throughout the year in five program areas. church, community, council, family life and youth. Within each of the five program areas, one project is chosen for the "Supreme Award." Additionally, four projects are chosen as "Outstanding Activities" in each category. Two of these awards go to larger ("A") councils and two go to smaller ("B") councils. Here are the 2008 winners in the category of Community Activities. Presenting the awards were Community Activities Director Francis V. Riva, Jr. and State Deputy Robert King.

SUPREME AWARD
COUNCIL # 8742 - AUBURN
-POW/MIA-

One member of our council (who is also the captain of our fourth degree assembly) approached the grand knight with the possibility of putting on a POW /MIA service for the community. Planning started immediately! It took three weeks to place everything in motion. The fourth degree color corps and honor guard held practices using the format of this memorial service. The church bulletin was used to announce the date chosen. The ladies auxiliary planned the luncheon. Invitations were sent out to all veterans organizations in the surrounding area. Mayor Jenkins of Auburn and State Senator Peggy Rotundo, who represents Lewiston, were invited. This way, we had a representative from each of the twin cities. When the day of the event arrived, all was in readiness and we had a packed house. The color corps presented the colors. Our grand knight sang the National Anthem. The choir of Sacred Heart Church was in attendance with appropriate music. A table was placed in front of the podium. We had a master of ceremonies who spoke first and then the program was turned over to the grand knight. He read about each of the items that were on the table and the captain of the honor guard explained the reason for each item. Also in attendance was a widow of a former POW. Her husband was also a past member of our council and fourth degree assembly. It was very fitting that we were the ones that set up this program. Our deacon read a special prayer for POWs/MIAs and all veterans. The mayor of Auburn gave a special address regarding all veterans, but especially the POW/MIA still not accounted for. The state senator spoke from the heart telling all present of the sacrifices that these veterans had made and for all that the veterans and their families have endured from all of our country's wars up to the present. She also reminded everyone there that each and every one of us knows a veteran. They do not want these accolades; the best thing that anyone can do for our veterans is very simple, just go up to them and say, "THANK YOU". As the last song was sung (Let There be Peace on Earth), the grand knight and fourth degree captain each took a side of the room and personally shook hands and thanked all for coming. After this ceremony, everyone's spirits were uplifted. We thank God for all He has done, and is doing, for us all.

OUTSTANDING ACTIVITY, "A" DIVISION
COUNCIL # 2537 - OLD TOWN
-SPECIAL OLYMPICS-

Special Olympics: there is so much you can say about this program but to put it into words is difficult. What an awesome and uplifting feeling you get when you see the faces of those special athletes. They give 110% to whatever they attempt, whether it be standing jumps or running events or even a 100 m walk as well as the mile run and all of the track and field events. The excitement and enthusiasm is there from the very first race to the last ball thrown. These young men and women don't know the meaning of the quitting or giving up.

As parents of a special needs child, Bob Foley, our grand knight, and his wife Priscilla have seen their son, Donald, fall during a race, stand up with a bloody lip, smile and continue running. We have seen this persistence in all of our Special Olympians. Donald has passed away, but his spirit continues to live on in Bob and Priscilla's hearts (and ours), not only in everyday life but also in the Special Olympics.

Past State Deputy Dale Voisine and Brother Fran Riva have long been key players in the involvement of the Knights of Columbus with Special Olympics. Dale has been, and continues to be, deeply involved in organizing, promoting, funding and working this project. To date, Dale has so solicited over $600 to fund and purchase new stopwatches for timing the races. He also has raised over $4,000 by participating in the Annual Lobster Dip fund raiser by running into the Atlantic Ocean in Old Orchard Beach in January of 2006.

The following is an example of what took place at the Special Olympics Summer Games of 2007:

Friday. June 8 - Council #2537 Old Town prepared 60 lunches for Special Olympics set-up crews. For the first time in Special Olympics history, the Knights of Columbus were represented in the opening ceremonies parade with a Fourth Degree Honor Guard marching unit of 17 members, led by District Master Walter Golojuch and a three-flag presentation. A tent/canopy was erected to protect K of C workers from the rain and hot sun. Coolers of cold soda and water were packed.

Saturday. June 9 at 8:00 a.m., 53 volunteer K of C members and family and friends worked at timing races, escorting athletes to and from Olympic Village to their respective events, providing security on the track and other various duties as needed. These Brother Knights also took photographs at all of the events during the day that ended at 4:00 p.m.

Sunday. June 10 started at 10:00 a.m., which makes for a shorter day. Therefore, only 15 members and their families were scheduled. All were involved in similar activities as Saturday's. At the conclusion of the final event, a short closing ceremony was held in the middle of the University of Maine football field. The hundreds of athletes, parents and workers present joined hands in a large circle, singing the Special Olympic theme song, "Auld Lang Syne" and then the Olympic flame was extinguished until next year. This is an extremely emotional time, as parting of friends and fellow athletes until the next year is very, very difficult.

A total of 92 Knights of Columbus, their family members and friends worked a total of 367 hours in two days at the 2007 Special Olympics Summer Games. We, as knights, represented the largest contingent of a single organization at the games. We, as knights, were given a special recognition. A large banner was present over the entrance to the Olympic Village, due to our efforts of manpower and funding, which displayed large red letters and our emblem. The banner read, "Olympic Village, Sponsored by the Knights of Columbus." Each member and volunteer from the 11 councils represented has pledged to be back next year. Why wouldn't they want to come back? There isn't another project that you could volunteer for that you truly believe at its completion that you came away with so much more that what you came with. Our thanks to the contact people of each of the councils involved, namely, Dale Voisine- Fort Kent, Gerry Martin- Madawaska, Dave Stewart- Caribou, Skip Madore-Benedicta, Grattan Murphy-Orono, Mike Ireland-Lincoln, Jim Landers-Bangor, Jim Dill-Brewer, Ross Files-Bucksport, Perley York-Bucksport, Ray Sargent-Sanford and Fran Riva-OldTown.

OUTSTANDING ACTIVITY, "A" DIVISION
COUNCIL # 8742 - AUBURN
-DESPERATE MOVE-

Our grand knight received a call from a caseworker at Tri County Mental Health. She had a client in desperate need of someone to help with his moving from a fifth floor apartment to another apartment on the second floor 6/10th of a mile away. The caseworker had tried to get financial help from other state agencies, but to no avail. She was desperate to find a church group or organization to volunteer their help in this move. The GK told her that we were having a K of C meeting on Tuesday and that she would get a call on Wednesday. Our council decided to help even though it was Labor Day weekend. The caseworker gave our GK the person's name, address and phone number so that contact could be made directly. (Confidentiality forms were signed prior to giving out this information). The GK contacted the client. The move was scheduled for Tuesday. The time and date were sent via the Internet and personal contacts. On Tuesday, two trucks, one van and one jeep arrived with eight brother knights and two wives as support for this project. We made two trips using these vehicles. There were a lot more items to be moved than we expected. This client was truly in need. He had major surgery, there were bandages under his shirt and his speech was affected. On the day of the move, the client fell and hurt his foot and bruised his upper arms. He had just been a primary caregiver to a close friend. He read the Bible to him and prayed with him until the time of his death. He was recovering from that experience when his own health took a turn for the worse. He was in deep despair. When we were almost done with the move, the client said to the grand knight and another brother knight, "It is amazing how all of you are so happy and friendly". Our GK responded, "We are Brothers." The client then said "You guys are Catholic, aren't you?" Our GK responded, "Yes, we are!" The entire move took 2-1/2 hours. After the move, the Knights and wives had as much joy in our hearts as the client we helped.

OUTSTANDING ACTIVITY, "B" DIVISION
COUNCIL # 11303 - FAIRFIELD
-GREATER FAIRFIELD CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL-

At our December '07 meeting, Fairfield Town Manager Paul Blanchette asked our council to take on the Greater Fairfield Chocolate Festival Project because they had no one else to do it this year. This was rather short notice with the Christmas season upon us and the festival was to take place in early February. We took on the project anyway. That same week, we held our initial meeting with the town staff to lay out the ground rules as to how to conduct the Chocolate Festival transactions, establish a budget and fine tune the lines of communications. Next, we had our own meeting to establish sub-committees and a plan of action to follow. Advertising and poster displays were jumped on quickly to alert central Maine that we had established a date for the Chocolate Festival and that we were looking for craft and chocolate vendors to take part in the festival. The next plan of business was to generate a letter and application to send out to prior year vendors and to new vendors as they called in for information about the festival. We sent out 83 forms and we settled on 39 vendors that we thought would fit the Chocolate Festival for this year. In the meantime, our advertising committee was busy setting up announcements for several newspapers and two radio stations. During January, about 100 posters were taken to area merchants, schools and churches. We finished off the advertising by delivering 1,000 flyers to the two primary schools in town and we gave one news release to the Morning Sentinel. Our advertising paid off as about 1,250 people attended the festival, including 372 children. A Child Safety Program (CHIP) was conducted by the Siloma Lodge #92 of the Masons. We gave up a large council room for this program which included taking a photo of the child, finger printing by our local police, DNA sampling by a dentist and video taping. A packet of this data was assembled and given to the parents to take home for later use if needed, all free of charge by the Masons. Children also experienced craft making, face painting and free balloons in a children's room which was supervised by 10 Colby College students who volunteered their time for the festival. These students also helped to decorate the rooms the day prior to the festival. Other non-council volunteers included a local DJ to play background music, several talented lady clowns to keep things festive and many family members working with their council husbands. In addition to the 16 council members, we had 28 other people volunteering time for a total of 446 hours to put on this festival. The Chocolate Festival started at 6:00 a.m. for the committee and we finished cleaning the Community Center at 7:00 p.m. that evening. Everything had to be clean when we left due to a church group needing the building the next day. Our morning started by greeting the vendors and helping them to their tables for a 10:00 a.m. start. Other K of C members prepared the food to be sold during the festival. Everything was ready by 10:00 a.m. We believe the Greater Fairfield Chocolate Festival was a success. It generated about $2,000 for the town's charities and those of our council. It provided fun for all 1,250 attending the festival and we were able to put 148 children through the Mason's CHIP (Child Safety Program). This was 40% of the children attending the festival. In addition, we were able to generate interest and help from the community.

OUTSTANDING ACTIVITY, "B" DIVISION
COUNCIL # 8868- LIMERICK
-HABITAT FOR HUMANITY-

Seven Knights of Columbus volunteered on a beautiful Saturday to help their fellow man, with limited means, to achieve their dream. The Kknights, members of the youth group and parishioners drove to the remote town of Parsonsfield at 8:00 a.m. and put siding on three sides of the house. We also worked on a stair casing, chimney cutout, installed exterior doors, prepped the site for well drilling, mudded the foundation, positioned the heating oil tank and set a loose rock barrier in the front. A lot was accomplished in the time we worked and the future owners were very grateful for our help. It was a wonderful feeling to help people achieve the most important acquisition of life - shelter - and we all left tired, but happy.